There is something about Emily Prentiss
by astateofgrace
Summary: this is a really old story so bear with the corniness of it! tell me whether i should continue please! Prentiss and Hotch's relationship over time. contains rape mentions and swearing. rating has been changed to 'm'
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Timing of events not in sync with CM episodes. **_

_There was something about Emily Prentiss. Something that Hotch knew he liked about her as soon as she walked eagerly into his office the first time she joined the BAU. She was different to the other Agents on his team; not necessarily better, just different. He had to admit, she'd surprised them all when she started translating words from Arabic on her first case. Emily had a vast knowledge of many topics; finally someone for Reid to compete with academically. Hotch found it strange that as new cases came up for the BAU; new serial killers, new massacres taking place, Prentiss hardly even blinked. Any other person starting out in a job like that would have keeled back in fear. But Emily; it was like an everyday happening for her. Sure, they'd had their disagreements when she had joined the BAU, but he respected and trusted her as soon as he saw her. _

"Hotch? New case came through." The woman that had been in his thoughts moments ago was now standing at his office doorway.

"What's it about, Prentiss?"

"You'll find out soon enough. BAU teams in the conference room." She said and shortly left the room.

Hotch walked into the conference room, hearing Emily vaguely talking to JJ.

"That's a gorgeous bracelet, Emily."

"Thanks, JJ. My Mother got it for me a few months ago..."

"JJ. Briefing please." Hotch called. JJ changed her concentration from Prentiss to Hotch, nodded and stood up.

"A year ago, 6 year old Thomas Evans was taken from his family home in Whitehall, Wisconsin. Although the FBI and local authorities liaised and became involved in the kidnapping, all they found were dead ends until a week later, when Thomas was found on his parent's doorstep propped up against the door with 3 fresh stab wounds to his chest." JJ began handing out case files.

"3 months later, 7 year old Andrew Sheridan in Arcadia, Wisconsin was kidnapped and a week later was found exactly the same way Thomas Evans was. These killings have been happening in a 100 mile radius of each other on and off for the past year. Most recently, 5 year old Robbie Whitings was taken from his home in Adams, Wisconsin 6 days ago. This means that if this killer sticks to their plan, we have less than 6 days to find Robbie before he is killed. The authorities in Wisconsin have requested the BAU to take the case." JJ finished, looking around the room. Her eyes moved to Hotch, who nodded to confirm.

"Wheels up in 30 minutes."

_**-Flashback-**_

_Hotch rolled over lazily in bed, reaching for the tall glass of water on his bedside table. His head thumped painfully, his eyes drooped and his nose was blocked. This case of the flu was just in time for a quiet stretch for the BAU. Hotch was just thankful that Jessica had agreed to take care of Jack until he was better and it was Hotch's luck that as soon as it was reasonably quiet at work, he became sick. The team of course, had told him to take a while off; they could handle the BAU in the mean whilst. He sighed, rolling onto his back and squeezing his eyes shut. They shot back open as he heard an almost non-existent knock on the front door downstairs. He grabbed the doona off the bed, wrapped it around his body and stumbled down the stairs. _

"_Prentiss? What are you doing here?" he gaped as he opened the front door. The winter chill swept past his body and into the house, icy wind whipping at the lounge room curtains. His work colleague stood at his doorstep, wrapped up in warm clothes for the cold, her black hair flying around fiercely in the cold wind. _

"_I'm standing on my sick boss' doorstep with soup for him. I'm...also staring at him wearing only boxer shorts covered loosely by a doona." She informed. Hotch blushed and covered his body more efficiently with the blanket. _

"_Erm, why are you here?" he murmured. She wrapped her winter jacket around her more tightly, shivering from the cold. _

"_Well, I know that when I'm sick, I like company. And also I knew that you probably didn't feel like cooking." She held up a container. "Now lemme in before you freeze to death and I'm seen standing over your dead body." She ordered and grinned as he smiled weakly. Hotch stood aside, shutting the door behind him. _

_Hotchner followed Emily to the kitchen where she promptly emptied the soup into a bowl and put it in the microwave. _

"_Do you want me to do anything?" Aaron asked, sitting down on the bar stool opposite her. _

"_Nope, you're sick. That's why I'm here." She said, busily setting a place at the table in front of Hotch. _

_Hotch watched as she shrugged her jacket off and placed it on the back of a chair, walking to the microwave, taking the soup out and placing the bowl in front of Hotch. She sat opposite him as he ate. _

"_I don't mean to be a bad host, Emily, but this is really good." Hotch murmured between spoonfuls. She smiled warmly. _

"_Anytime. Anyway, it's nice to see the side of you that isn't spent catching serial killers. The side that occasionally smiles." _

_**-End Flashback-**_

**3 days later**

Hotch leant his body against the large table in the conference room that the Wisconsin authorities had had set up for the BAU when they arrived 3 days ago. Since then, they had gathered basically nothing to point to who was taking these young boys and where.

Dr. Spencer Reid sat slouched in his chair, with Gideon and JJ standing behind him. Morgan strolled in moments later with a coffee mug in his hand, and Emily stood next to Hotch, staring at him intently.

"Okay, let's take a step back. What do we know?" Morgan started off the group, who all looked glum and fatigued.

"All these kidnappings have happened close together in distance, so the attacker is most likely to live or at least be comfortable in Wisconsin." Prentiss reported.

"The boys were found with fresh stab wounds to their chest, which indicates that our Unsub kills them just before dumping them on the doorstep." Gideon murmured.

"The strange thing about these killings is that each one of the 3 stabbings that each boy received in the chest was in exactly the same place all times. One in the..." Reid started, but Prentiss interrupted, quickly knowing where he was heading.

"Reid, I don't wanna know."

"Witnesses to any of the kidnappings?" Hotch ordered.

"Only 2," started Emily, only to be interrupted by Reid.

"One John Parsons, 42. He was driving to work at 5:00 am and saw a man in black with a small boy slung over his shoulder walking up to the front doorstep of the Evans' house."

"Second witness..." Prentiss looked down at her case file. "Andrew Matthews, 33. He reported heading home from his work as an electrician, passing the Whitings' house and seeing a boy matching Robbie's description being led out of the front door of the family's house into a dark green SUV around 5:15 pm."

"Parent's home?" frowned JJ.

"His mother had gone to the shops and his father was at work."

"Okay, so our Unsub is definitely confident around the neighbourhood... he's someone that the public trust. There was no sign of forced entry and Thomas wouldn't open the door to someone he thought was threatening." Hotch explained.

"I wanna speak with these witnesses. JJ, I don't want any media covering the case; any attention drawn to the Unsub could cause him to panic. Keep it quiet." Hotch murmured and quickly dismissed the BAU unit.

"Mr. Parsons? Agent Aaron Hotchner, FBI." Hotch stepped into the interview room, seeing a small, bald man with wide- rimmed steel glasses shrugged over the table in front of him. Hotch sat down opposite the spindly man.

"Agent Hotchner. What's this about? The man at my house just said that you needed to talk to me...am I in trouble? I can pay for those parking tickets..." he said, his voice becoming fragile and worried.

"No, Mr. Parsons, I just need to ask you some questions. I understand that you reported seeing a man with a small boy slung over his shoulders. Can you tell me about it?"

"Oh, well it was a fairly long time ago, but I'll try my best to remember. I was heading to work, but my car was low of fuel so I stopped at a station near my house to refill. It was busy there even though I seem to remember it was very early in the morning," he mind started to wander. "I remember I was amazed at the fuel prices... gee, the prices are just going up and up..."

"Mr. Parsons, please stay on track."

"Oh, yes. Sorry. Anyway, on my way to work, I drove past the Evans house. I looked over to the house to see their son Thomas slung over the shoulder of a man in a pair of work overalls walking up to their front door."

"What did this man look like? Did you recognise him?"

"No, I didn't. It was dark and his face was shaded by long brown hair."

_Oh, great, there has to be thousands of people in Wisconsin with long brown hair. This case is going nowhere. _

"Did you get anything from Parsons?" Morgan swept up behind Hotch, slapping him playfully on the back.

"No. All he told me was exactly what was in the witness statement. We got nothing."

"Andrew Matthews here we come." Derek called and stalked off.

"Where's Matthews?" Gideon ordered.

"He's in the interview room, Sir." The security guard nearest him reported. Gideon strolled off into the interview room to meet a medium- build man wearing a brown coat and jeans with a grey beanie, wisps of brown hair escaping from underneath.

"Mr. Matthews, I'm Agent Gideon from the FBI. I understand that you filed a witness statement on one Robbie Whitings." Jason took a seat.

"Erm, yes Agent Gideon. It was just a couple of days ago." Matthews answered, with just a slight hint of nervousness.

"Would you mind telling me what you saw?"

"I saw a tall man in a long, dark jacket leading a small boy to a dark green SUV."

"Was the man familiar to you?"

Matthews drew in his breath. "No."

"Can you describe him?" Gideon murmured.

"As I said before, tall, dark jacket, and he had blond hair."

"Blond hair?" Gideon frowned. _This didn't match Parsons' description at all. _

"Yes, quite light in colour."

Jason stared for a few moments, then inhaled and stood.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Matthews."

"Hotch, a moment?" Agent Gideon mumbled and pulled him away from Reid and Prentiss.

"I just talked to Matthews. The witnesses' descriptions of the Unsub don't match at all."

"What? What'd he say?"

"The man he reported was a blond in a dark jacket."

"Blond? How does that work?"

"One of them is lying. That's how it works."

"Many killers come forward to the police as a witness to find out how much they actually know. But this doesn't make sense; unsub's like this one don't inject themselves into the investigation. They lie low, if anything: under the radar." Reid frowned, suddenly dropping into the conversation.

"We've gotta get the team together. Where are they?" Gideon asked.

"Erm, JJ's talking the town mayor, Prentiss just left for the hotel and Morgan's across town talking to Robbie's relatives." Reid reported. Hotchner sighed.

"We'll wait 'til tomorrow."

"Good evening, ma'am." Greeted the receptionist at the hotel JJ had booked for the BAU team. Emily smiled and walked by to the lift. Her eyes drooped as she waited, the floor numbers in the lift slowly moving upwards. The door opened and she shuffled out of it, walking past each of the team's rooms, Morgan's, Reid's, JJ's, Gideon's. She passed Hotch's and finally stood opposite her door. Her fingers fumbled for the keys in her bag, lifting them out and moving them to the lock. Swiftly, Prentiss was snatched from behind and shoved against the wall next to her. It took a moment for her brain to process whose hands were clenching her wrists against the wall next to her head. Her eyes widened, recognising him from the photo in the witness statement. Andrew Matthews. He moved his left hand to cover her mouth.

"Don't even try to scream. If you do, I shoot you." His menacing voice called, he removed his hand from her mouth and produced a gun hidden in his overall pocket. He quickly frisked her, producing her standard FBI weapon and stashing it in his pockets.

"Now here's the deal. You come with me to the car waiting out the front. You smile, no secret messages. In return, I don't kill you. If you do, I kill you then go after the rest of your unit. Agreed?"

"Stop this, Matthews." She ordered calmly.

"AGREED?" he shouted, shoving the gun to her hip. She nodded quickly. He put his gun in his pocket and dragged her to the lift.


	2. Chapter 2

_I've probably mentioned it before, but please bear with the fluffy corniness! I don't write fics often! Thanks for reading_

Emily stirred, feeling drowsy and dizzy as she opened her eyes. She looked at the inside of her elbow. _He drugged me. _Prentiss squinted, looking around the small, damp room. The walls were bare and paint peeled off them, fragile curls of it falling off the walls. There was no windows, no light at all save a dim light hanging from the ceiling. A strong oak door stood on the wall opposite, looking like it was bolted shut from the outside. It was then that she noticed a small, flimsy body a few metres from her. It was Robbie Whitings. Painfully, she shuffled on her knees towards him, her muscles aching. His face was pointing away from her and she lifted her hand to his shoulder and rolled him over so she could see his face. He flinched at the body contact, showing his tear-stricken face.

"Robbie? My names Emily." She received no reply.

"Don't worry, little man. You're gonna be fine." Nothing again. He simply rolled back over away from her. Emily frowned, moving back to where she had been sitting moments before. _Just relax, Emily. Hotch knew you went back to the hotel. When you don't show in the morning, he'll come looking. _

"Anyone seen Prentiss?" Aaron bellowed to the team. They shook their heads.

"Haven't seen her since yesterday, Hotch." They reported.

"No-one saw her at the hotel last night?"

"Nope. It was pretty quiet at her end of the corridor." JJ replied.

"I'll call her." Aaron got out his mobile and pressed in #6 in the speed dial. It rang out. He looked up.

"Morgan, JJ. Get to the hotel."

An hour later Morgan and JJ returned, glum looks on their faces.

"Anything?" Hotch moved towards them.

"Nothing. She isn't there."

The oak door slammed open, revealing a dark looking Andrew Matthews. He stormed towards the boy and shoved a glass of water and a small bowl of rice at him. Robbie shot towards the food, scoffing the food down. Matthews simply glared at Prentiss and after a moment, moved slowly towards her, towering over her body.

"Why did you drug me?" she whispered, drawing her hands towards herself protectively.

"You couldn't see where we were going. And you would have fought." He glowered.

"I didn't expect to have to deal with the FBI. But when you got into town I knew you'd find me... I had to get them thinking emotionally. And how do you do that? Kidnap one of their colleagues, of course." He grinned. He moved to the opposite side of the room and grabbed a camera and tripod from the outside of the oak door. He set it up so it was focussed on Robbie and Prentiss.

"Come with me." He beckoned to her.

"No." She said firmly.

"COME WITH ME." He ordered, running and grabbing her from the floor and taking her from the room. The last thing she heard was Robbie's whimper.

Prentiss felt the pain rip through her body as Matthews forced her down, shoving himself in her. She screamed as fire spread through her. He slapped with his free hand, the other occupied by feeling her up. She froze. She couldn't move. Matthews kept her firmly under his body so she couldn't escape. Emily closed her eyes and prayed that it would soon be over.

Morgan's phone rang. Fishing it out of his pocket, he answered to hear Garcia's unusually quiet voice.

"What's up, baby girl?"

"I just received a signal from your Unsub. I'm sending it through to you."

Morgan frowned. It had to be bad. Moments later, he felt the same as Garcia. It was a video of Emily and Robbie Whitings. He turned from the computer screen in front of him and yelled for the team. Soon, the BAU team and Garcia watched the horror that Robbie and Prentiss were going through. If being held in a dim, empty room by a killer wasn't enough, it added to Emily's shame to be in her underwear.

"Can you trace it?" JJ spoke into Morgan's mobile.

"He's re-routing his IP address every 30 seconds so I can't track him." They could hear the tap of Penelope's fingers on the keyboard in front of her through the phone.

"Shit." Hotch murmured, turning away.

Aaron Hotchner sat in his makeshift office in Adams, Wisconsin staring at the wall next to him. _This you're fault, Aaron. You let Elle's career go and now you're doing the same to Emily's; except this time, it's her life at stake. _He knew he should be concentrating on finding ways to get Prentiss back, but this case was unlike any of the others he'd dealt with. Even when some of his other team member's lives had been put on the line, he hadn't felt like this ever. It felt like his heart had been completely ripped out, and the only thing that was left was a rotting hole. He couldn't live like it for much longer. His thoughts started to slowly drift.

_**-Flashback-**_

_The team had just solved a case in Durham, North Carolina and Hotch was driving Prentiss home. It was snowing, and snowflakes fell gently to the ground as the government SUV wound along the flat, empty highway to Quantico, Virginia. Although Emily knew it must be extremely cold outside, she was feeling very warm and toasty as the heater was on high. Her winter jacket clung to her body and green knitted gloves that Penelope had made for her one Christmas sat on her hands. She looked across at her superior whose eyes stuck to the road in front of them. When he realised that Emily was looking at him, he turned and smiled briefly. She let out a small laugh, happy that she could see him smile sometimes. _

"_What?" he enquired. _

"_Nothing. It's just nice to see you smile." _

"_Oh, come on. I'm not that bad, am I?" Hotch complained, changing the SUV's gears efficiently._

"_I gotta tell 'ya, Hotch. You can be sometimes." She grinned. He sighed, and there was silence in the car for a while. _

"_You know what I think of when I see snow?" the female FBI agent broke the silence as she stared out the window at the bright moon. _

"_Hm?"_

"_I think of the mud and dirt underneath." She said quietly. "But knowing that white, fragile snowflakes cover it up once in a while makes me forget about the bad things in the world for a while." She explained. Hotch raised his eyebrows, then after thinking about it for a moment, nodded in agreement. _

"_It reminds me about living in Philadelphia as a boy."_

"_Why's that?"_

"_When I was about 8, it snowed extra heavily that year. My younger brother and I used to scoff down our breakfasts, grab the sleds and mention to Mum that we were going sledding as we bolted out the door." Hotch spoke vaguely. Emily smiled, feeling good that the quiet, thoughtful SSA Hotchner was opening up to her about tender childhood memories. _

_Hotch continued. "No coats, no gloves; just a jumper, pants and boots. We knew that we would freeze, but we also knew that we would have so much fun that it wouldn't matter." He smiled as he spoke. Realising that he was in his own world, he inhaled quickly and looked across at a smiling Prentiss. _

"_What about your childhood?" he asked, keeping the conversation going. It felt good; opening up. They didn't get many opportunities to talk like this with the rest of the BAU team encircling them constantly. _

"_I didn't have any siblings. It was just me, Father and occasionally Mother, even though she spent most of her time on diplomatic trips around the world," she started. Hotch frowned, feeling how Emily must have felt as a young girl with a Mother that rarely visited her and a Father that was a perfectly respectable man, but just had problems with showing love. _

"_Anyway, I had different governesses until I was 17. There was one I liked especially. She was Austrian, her name was Brigitta. She was quite a young lady, probably about 22 at the time. She told me that she moved to the US so she could support her family at home, sending them back the money she earned. We used to have so much fun; running around the family manor, jumping up and down in water fountains...we used to get in such trouble. In the end, I think that's why she left," Emily's voice became quiet and hurt. "Mother always told me that Brigitta had had to go back to her family in Austria to support them there, but inside I always knew that Mother had fired her because I wasn't being brought up 'like a lady'. I missed her terribly. Still do." It was silent for a while. Emily inhaled sharply. "But now I have a real family. You guy's...the team at Quantico." She smiled and Hotch couldn't help but to return the favour. _

_The SUV started to pass a small shop on the deserted highway. Emily leant forward in her seat. _

"_Hotch, can we stop here? I need to get a drink." She pointed at the shop and Hotch pulled over in the car park. They both stepped out, the cold air hitting their faces instantly. Emily shivered. _

"_Do you want something?" she asked. _

"_I'll get it, Emily. You wait here." Hotch said, and before she could protest, he had wandered off towards the shop. She leant against the car door, looking at her surroundings. Snow covered the outside of the car park, the white powder luminous in the dark night. The only other light was the bright lights that came from the shop. The snow was thick on the ground, covering every inch of it completely. Prentiss looked over towards the shop where she could see Hotch paying the cashier, and back at the snow. Her brown eyes glinted mischievously as she came up with an idea. _

'_Was Hotch in a playful mood? Let's see...' she grinned to herself and ducked behind the car. _

_Moments later, Aaron stepped out of the shop and into the cold, hurrying to get to the warmth of the car. Suddenly, something cold and wet hit his shoulder. He looked at his jacket which was now wet, and back to the car. Emily Prentiss' playful face stuck out from the bonnet of the car. _

"_Agent Prentiss? What do you think you're doing?" he asked coldly. Prentiss' grin faded. _

"_Erm, well, Sir..." she stammered, starting to explain while looking at the ground. Before she could utter another word, a snowball hit her square in the face. She looked up, astonished, to see SSA Aaron Hotchner grinning at her. _

"_Did you really think that you could assault you superior like that without getting a payback?" he laughed, reaching to the ground and grabbing up another snow ball. Prentiss was amazed, but she knew that this was a side of Hotch that he wouldn't let many people see. So she took advantage of it. She giggled hysterically as they threw snowballs at each other, Emily using the car as a cover. _

"_Hey! That's not fair! Why don't I get to use the car?" Hotch complained, while they pelted freezing snowballs in each other's direction. Prentiss simply stuck out her tongue at him playfully then turned and made a dash for a tree further into the snowfield. Aaron saw this as his chance and bolted towards her. She was quick, but not quick enough for Hotch. He got close enough, and between their hysterical laughter, tackled her to the soft ground. _

"_Now __**that **__isn't fair!" she whined before Hotch started shoving snow all over her playfully; on her face, over her jacket. They giggled hysterically, Emily squealing for him to stop. _

"_Say you're sorry!" he ordered. _

"_Never!" she laughed; at that response, Hotch began covering her in snow. The laughter eased off as_

_they realised how they had landed. Emily was back down in the snow with Hotch securely on top of her, his hands either side of her head. There was no noise apart from their ragged breathing to be heard. A few moments passed, Hotch staring deep into her brown pools. He could get lost in those eyes forever..._

_**-End Flashback-**_

At that Jason Gideon knocked and walked in, taking a seat. For a moment, it was silent; the profilers just looked at each other.

"This is my fault, Jason."

"No, Aaron. It's not." Jason reassured.

"Yes, it is. It's just like Elle. Even if we find Prentiss at all, she won't be the same. I can't have two of my profiler's careers on my conscious, I mean; it's bad enough with one."

"Hotch. This is **not** your fault. We'll find her. Prentiss is tough. She can handle it."

_He drugged me again. _Prentiss woke, her body screaming. She looked up to see Robbie staring at her, his eyes focussed on her chest. At that moment, she looked down and realised that she wore nothing but her underwear. She shuffled around, trying to cover herself up somehow. The camera still stood opposite them, recording everything they did.

"Did he hurt you?" Robbie's fragile voice asked. He moved slowly toward Emily.

"I'm fine, Robbie." She managed a fake smile. The little boy sat next to her and curled up against her skin. She placed an arm around him.

"We've gotta stick together through this, okay?" she whispered.

"Okay." She felt him nod his head before his breathing slowed and she knew he had fallen asleep. She too closed her eyes and fell slowly into a very light slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

A reader has reminded me to tell you all that this story will contain rape and some swearing. This will mostly be in the first few chapters, though. Thanks.


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